Stocks Closed Lower; GoPro Surged on Debut

U.S. stocks ended slightly lower on Thursday after a top Federal Reserve official said interest rates were likely to rise sooner rather than later. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.38 points, or 0.13%, to 16,846.13. The S&P 500 was off 2.31 points, or 0.12%, to 1,957.22. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.71 point, or 0.02%, to 4,379.05.

James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said the unemployment rate would fall below 6 percent and inflation looked likely to rise back to 2 percent later this year, putting the economy closer to normal than most people realize. Mr. Bullard is a nonvoting member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

GoPro Inc. (GPRO) shares surged more than 30% in their first day of trading Thursday, as investors snapped up shares of the maker portable video cameras.

Nike Inc. (NKE) shares jumped 3.4% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the sneaker giant’s fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales both topped Wall Street expectations. Profit rose to $698 million, or 78 cents a share, from $662 million, or 76 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose to $7.43 billion from $6.7 billion.

Chemicals giant DuPont (DD) cut its second-quarter and 2014 profit outlook, citing a worse-than-expected performance in its agriculture arm and also its performance chemicals line. It sees second-quarter operating earnings below last year’s $1.28 a share, and sees 2014 earnings per share between $4 and $4.10 a share.